T.W.I.N.E.

This Thursday will be our LAST meeting of Teen Writers of the Inland Northwest (TWINE)! Pat yourselves on the back for your outstanding writing, participation, and paper game artistry. It's been an honor hearing your amazing words each month. To celebrate, we're turning our last meeting into a big celebration party, with cake, a chance for you to read your favorite pieces out loud, and a few last rounds of the paper game.

Although TWINE is ending, keep your eye on the SCLD website in the next few months as we're working on new writing workshops (for adults, but open to teen writers 15 and up who want to participate!) We're excited about some of the activities and experts we'll have on board and we know you will be too.

Did you know The Inlander's annual short fiction contest is open to all ages? Submissions will be accepted until Nov. 21, and should reference at least one Inland Northwest landmark. They should also be less than 2,000 words, and be based on the theme "spirits." For more information, click here, or come to our Nov. 6 meeting.

October's TWINE writing challenge is inspired by the story Erin wrote last month in response to the writing prompt, "write a story in which a character begins a sentence 'I hope you're all happy, because now (fill in the blank)..." Erin wrote a scene in which a game of Truth or Dare goes off the rails. It got us to thinking about Truth or Dare and how such a simple childhood game can show us so much about the people playing. So here's your writing challenge for this month: Write a scene where the characters are playing Truth or Dare. Does your main character choose "truth" or "dare." What happens next? Set a timer for fifteen minutes and write! As always email us your best effort and we'll post it right here on the TWINE blog. And take a look at Erin's great scene here:

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” ― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
A great trick for getting to know your characters is to think about the kinds of clothes they wear and why. For instance, do you have a main character who runs around in jeans and T-shirts? Or is she wearing a frothy, fabulous ball gown? If a man is wearing tights, does it mean he's a Shakespearean actor, or is he some kind of wrestler? To practice getting into character, try this exercise: look at the shoes above and think about who would wear them and why. Then set a timer for ten minutes and write from that person's point of view. Who are you? Where do you live? What's important to you? And where are you going in these shoes? As always, email us what you come up with and we'll post it here!

Based on Heather Wright's writing prompt, where you start a scene with a snippet of dialogue and build from there.
"I can't believe he gave that to her!"

"I can't believe she took it!"

Jasmine skulked back to her listening place behind the bookshelf and drew a shaky breath in. Why shouldn't she have taken the necklace from Jason? He had been so sweet, setting up that romantic dinner before showing her that dazzling necklace. What could be wrong with it?

She knew that Jason wasn't the best kid in school but she believed that he was just misunderstood. She crunched her eyes closed and thought back to when he gave her the necklace, trying to remember anything strange. His face hadn't given any signs of bad intention the whole night. Wait... when she asked where he had gotten it, he had started stuttering and quickly changed the subject.

She knew he had been accused of stealing things before, but never something this big. If he really had taken it, he was in big trouble. Big trouble indeed.

She decided that when she saw him tomorrow she would confront him and demand the real story...

Based on Heather Wright's writing prompt, where you start a scene with a snippet of dialogue and build from there.
"I can't believe he gave that to her."

"I can't believe she took it."

Penny wasn't deaf -- she could hear the whispers. It wasn't like they were exactly hard to hear: in the hallways, out on the grass, and even in the classrooms. She had heard them before, always about different people. Never once had she dreamed the whispers would be about her. But now they were and she had no idea what to do.

It wasn't like they were wrong. Yes, she had accepted Jake's gift. So what? Was it wrong to say thank you and accept a gift? Did middle schoolers really have to take every interaction between a male and a female as some sort of relationship?

Well, technically, Penny and Jake did have a relationship, but...

Someone stopped her in her thoughts. Penny blinked and flinched in surprise. "Who's there?"

Jake smiled sheepishly "Uh, hi?"

Penny stared at him before grabbing his arm and dragging him to the side of the hall. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

He seemed confused. "Saying hi?"

"We can't be seen together." Penny's face flushed.

"Why?"

"Haven't you heard the whispers?"

Jake nodded. "About me giving you the hockey book? Yeah, why?"

Penny took a shuddering breath in. "They think that one, I'm a weirdo for liking hockey, and two, that we're in some sort of relationship."

Jake shook his head. "Why can't you tell them the truth?"

Penny sighed and placed her hands to her head. "Come on, Jake. Who's really going to believe that we're cousins?"

Based on Heather Wright's writing prompt, where you start a scene with a snippet of dialogue and build from there.

"I can't believe he gave that to her!" Jasper said, referring to how Sebastian had given Luce his family's ring.
"I can't believe she took it!" Emelia replied, shaking her head, her brown curls bouncing as she did so.

Word of the engagement had spread quickly through the high class people of London. They wondered why such a noble girl would ever want to marry Sebastian. He was a disgrace to his family and would bring shame to Luce's name. But they didn't know the full story. They didn't know how he had saved the entire country...

Upcoming Meetings:

LAST MEETING/CELEBRATION

Thursday, Dec. 4 at 4 p.m. (Spokane Valley)

Virtual T.W.I.N.E.!

Unable to come to the monthly in-person meeting? Don't worry - you can still participate! Once or twice a month we'll post a writing prompt and invite you to send us your creative writing. Fiction, poetry, even original artwork or your own song lyrics are all welcome. Then we'll post it right here on the TWINE blog!

E-mail us at twine(dot)scld@gmail.com. You can either send us your work as an attachment or copy it directly into the body of the email. Please give us your first name and which SCLD library you visit the most -- we might expand TWINE to more physical locations if we know the interest is there!

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Sponsored by the Spokane County Library District, T.W.I.N.E. (Teen Writers of the Inland Empire) is a writing club for Spokane County teenagers, grades 6 through 12. No registration is required. We meet at one of the SCLD branches to write fiction and poetry and to share our work in an encouraging and positive environment.